Go North East has announced plans to save a number of bus services facing the axe - but fears remain that communities could still be cut off.
Public transport giant Arriva said it intended to withdraw its 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55 service. The 553 service was also due to be shortened.
The move was criticised by Deputy Mayor of North Tyneside Carl Johnson who claimed it would cut off residents from vital services. Bus users also hit out at the proposals, saying cutting the buses would be a "disaster" for communities.
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The prospect of withdrawn services sparked discussions between North Tyneside Council and Nexus to find a solution. Now, Go North East has revealed it plans to operate replacement services for almost every at-risk bus service.
Dan Graham, commercial development manager at Go North East, said: "Today, we have confirmed to Nexus that Go North East plans to provide replacement bus services for the 52, 53, 54 and 55 routes.
"These services provide key links to town centres, doctors' surgeries and hospitals, and we are stepping in to save some of these vital bus links.
"Customers will benefit from our great-value day, weekly and monthly tickets in Newcastle and North Tyneside, which are valid on all Go North East services in the area."
Despite the replacement services, North Tyneside's Labour Group believe more can be done to preserve the scope of bus routes in the area.
Deputy Mayor Carl Johnson said: "It is great news Go North East has stepped in to save some of the services cancelled by Arriva. However, I understand they will not be operating them on the same days, frequency, or times as Arriva currently do.
"We need to keep the pressure of Go North East and Nexus to ensure they keep as frequent as possible services on all these routes, so communities are not cut off from public transport."
Huw Lewis, customer services director at Nexus, said: “The good news for people in North Tyneside is that they can count on many of the bus services they have today being there in the future, in one way or another.
“We have been working behind the scenes to encourage the other commercial bus companies to step in where Arriva plans to withdraw routes in September, though we don’t expect they will cover all the gaps. This is ‘work in progress’ but the fact that Go North East is ready to take on parts of these routes as a commercial operator is a very good start.
“It is good to see that Go North East has registered a number of new services with the Traffic Commissioner and we hope that Stagecoach might do the same. Go North East has only registered to operate buses during the day and early evening from Monday to Saturday, however. We will need to see what interest Stagecoach has and then Nexus will look at how we can best use public money to provide buses in the evenings and on Sundays, or in areas that would otherwise be left without a local route.”
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